Viktor Zabila

Zabila, Viktor Nikolaevich 

Born 1808 in the khutor (privately owned homestead) of Kukurikovshchina, near the city of Borzna, present-day Chernigov Oblast; died there 1869. Ukrainian poet.

Zabila, the son of apomeshchik (landowner), studied with N. V. Gogol’ at the Nezhin Gymnasium of Higher Humanities. His works were first published in 1841 in the anthology The Swallow. Unhappy love between members of different social classes, loneliness, and grief are the recurring themes of Zabila’s poetry. His lyric verses resemble folk songs. Several of his poems (for example, “The Wing Is Howling in the Field” and “Oh Nightingale! Do Not Sing”) have been set to music by M. I. Glinka and have become songs. In 1906, I. Franko published Zabila’s collection Songs Through Tears.

WORKS

Poezii. Kiev, I960. (Published together with M. Petrenko’s verses.)

REFERENCES

Istoriia ukrainskoi literatury, vol. 1. Kiev, 1954.
Franko, I. “Poezii Viktora Zabily.” Literaturno-naukovyi visnyk, I960, vol. 33, book 3.
Franko, I. “Do biohrafii ta kharakterystyky Viktora Zabily.” Literaturno-naukovyi visnyk, 1906, vol. 34, book 4.